Today is Worthy of Cheering

"You cannot find me a person in the world who has been greatly used of God, who has not been full of enthusiasm. When we enter on the work in this spirit it will begin to prosper, and God will give us success."


Snow falls quietly outside my window, it's so quiet and graceful I can almost hear it whisper.

Having seven children (so far) really forces you to see life through a child like lens. Every signal day they wake up with a clean slate. The day is new and ready to unfold adventure.
My 6 year old comes into the house with bright red cheeks and a runny nose.

........ "Mama guess what we did?!" Excitement and thrill are like a blazing fire in his eyes.
"what's that honey?"

......"we slid down the big hill on our tummies with no sled"

His joy spills out of him like a 3 year old carrying an over filled glass of milk across the room.

......Oh ! that sounds so fun, you be careful out there. " " we are!!!! as he runs out the door I hear his voice disappearing into the yard.

We need to let the Joy and the Peace of Christ rule in our hearts like a 6 year old boy.

What ever our situations may be at the time someone's life is harder. Joyfully take hold of today even if you don't feel like it. Life is hard no matter what your lot is but look around you get excited about what God is doing and has done in your life. Don't wallow in self pity just because Suzie at church doesn't share her struggles doesn't mean she doesn't have any. Joy is a gift from the Lord but like any gift we have to CHOOSE to receive it.

"A good many people are afraid of the word Enthusiasm. Do you know what that word means? It means "In God." The person who is "in God," will surely be fired with enthusiasm. In the army a general who is full of enthusiasm will fire up his men, and will accomplish a great deal more than one who is not stirred with the same spirit. People say that if we go on in that way many mistakes will be made. Probably there will. If you do not go to work because you are afraid of making mistakes, you will probably make one great mistake - the greatest mistake of your life - that of doing nothing. If we all do what we can - than a good deal will be accomplished."

Eleven

Zachary Thomas

Zachary turned eleven on December 18th, I can not believe how fast he is growing up. This year we celebrated at a local kids game place for laser tag.
Zac is growing up and maturing right before our very eyes and has always kept up to his big brother. Even though he is 11 now he seemed 11 at 2. Zac is very strong and reserved, he does very well in his studies, loves math, he has a strong sense for justice. He can really let things roll but if you cross him with what he thinks is wrong he lets you know. He's a " fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me" kinda guy.

Zachary, we love you so much! Even though your only 11 you have wisdom beyond your age. You are such a deep thinker and I love that about you. You are amazing with the younger kids and they look up to you so much. I love how patient you are with them. Today I was watching you laying on the floor rolling the ball to Hannah and when she would push it back I love how encouraging you were to her "good job Hannie"
You are very quick to lend a hand and do the job 100% without question you remind me alot of your dad in that way. Your a servant.
I love how you know what you want in life and you plug away at your goals and dreams. Your the first one to say "lets pray about it".
Thank-you for being you.

Joy

Do you ever have days when you are so full of joy and you know for a fact you are in God's will? I love days like that.

I have a routine with my 2 year old for nap time that takes place daily when I tuck him in for his afternoon nap. I say "OK Jude time to *huck* you in bed notice it's not tuck. Well he stands at the big pillow top bed and goes stiff as a board and I hold on to his ankles and he flies into bed. LOL
Then I lay down beside him and he holds my hand and we pray. Sometimes I pray for 15-20 mins or sometimes 2. I take this time to really speak blessing over him. Now if any of you know Jude you would know he really struggles to talk. We have been signing with him to help ease his frustration and also working with an SLP. I have been praying over him that he would be a man like Moses that the Lord would help him to talk and speak through him. That he would hate evil and love righteousness. I pray he will boldly share the gospel from a young age that he will look to his older siblings for Godly counsel.

Anyway where I was going with this was it's in these moments when I am finished praying I hear him say "Amen" my spirit LEAPS WITH JOY! Amen means "let it be done!"
I 100% believe the things we pray over him will come to pass. God has a huge plan for his life. I believe he will lead many people to the Lord. Jude means praise and that was not by chance I praise the Lord daily for my 6Th born child.

A picture of my mom and I Christmas Eve.

This Christmas my dad surprised me with a
fancy cappuccino/coffee maker, I was so excited that I could make Starbucks
drinks way up here in the country. As I sit here this cold snowy night sipping
my chai latte, I am just so thankful for this life I have. This past fall with a pretty big health
wake-up call cause me to really focus on how I am mothering my little lambs.
These seven children are such precious gifts to me I realized there isn’t much
time. I will look back on these years thinking these were the best times. I
want my children to have fond memories of their childhood. I don’t want them to
have memories of a selfish mom that only thought about herself and her “needs”.
Nope, I want my children to remember that there mom always had a smile and a
hug for them. Now I am not talking about
not being real with your kids. I am talking about me getting over myself and
loving them despite myself, loving them the way Jesus wants a mother love. I
think the world has us so confused we forget about what true JOY in the Lord really
is. I must admit I look around me and see so many Christians with solemn faces.
Where is the Joy? Where are those Godly mothers that radiate Joy? The ones that
love what they are doing, the ones that are an encouragement to all those
around them? I teach my kids JOY J-
Jesus first O-others second and Y- yourself last. But I look around and the lie
of the enemy has Christian women believing the ways of the world. This year I resolve to be what I envision.
To make whatever changes needed to live this out. I sense a time of solitude
coming. A time to really focus on what’s in my four walls, a time to mentor my
older children and grow as a wife.

"Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he" (Proverbs 29:18). True happiness comes when we obey God's Word it is my prayer that you would dig deep into the Word and seek and find where true Joy comes from.

As 2011 wraps up, I thought I
would summarize the year and remember just how blessed we are. I’d also like to
think about my vision and goals for this coming year.
At the beginning of 2011 I was
37 weeks pregnant looking forward to the arrival of our 7th
child. The days coming up to her birth
were some very stretching long days, I cried out to the Lord constantly to
sustain me and give me just enough grace to get through each day.
Nine days over her due date
Hannah Jubilee showed up in February on the 8th in the wee hours of
a cold snowy morning. In May we made the
decision to move forward and purchase a home of our own. The summer months were filled with moving and
company. We feel so blessed to be out in
the country. Every time we turn down our driveway I thank the Lord for what he
has provided. I truly love it. Another
door that opened this year is I started a relationship with my biological
father whom I had pervious only met once. It has been a lot of fun getting to
know him. It’s a little hard for me to
even put into words all I can really say is it’s been really good for my heart. This fall I was diagnosed with thyroid
disease with some concerns we are going to keep an eye on, that kept my weeks
pretty busy with doctors’ appointments.
I was looking over my goals from last year and
was pretty happy to see how much growth I made this year. Two things that really stood out to me were
about hospitality and being more encouraging to my children. I have really made some noticeable changes in
those areas it’s pretty exciting to see evidences of God’s Grace working in my
life.
For 2012 I have decided to really dive into my
prayer life. I have a hunger to see God
move this year. I also plan to work on
my health and fix some of the damage I have done to my body. I have started to make some changes but it
has been a little harder over the holidays.

Jody Sparks can you send me an email please :)

Week of Faith

“We talk glibly of the ‘Christmas spirit’, rarely meaning more by this than sentimental jollity on a family basis. But what we have said makes it clear that the phrase should in fact carry a tremendous weight of meaning. It ought to mean the reproducing in human lives of the temper of Him who for our sakes became poor at the first Christmas. And the Christmas spirit itself ought to be the mark of every Christian all the year round.

It is our shame and disgrace today that so many Christians—I will be more specific: so many of the soundest and most orthodox Christians—go through this world in the spirit of the priest and the Levite in our Lord’s parable, seeing human needs all around them, but (after a pious wish, and perhaps a prayer, that God might meet them) averting their eyes, and passing by on the other side. That is not the Christmas spirit. Nor is it the spirit of those Christians—alas, they are many—whose ambition in life seems limited to building a nice middle-class Christian home, and making nice middle-class Christian friends, and bringing up their children in nice middle-class Christian ways, and who leave the sub-middle class sections of the community, Christian and non-Christian, to get on by themselves.

The Christmas spirit does not shine out in the Christian snob. For the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor—spending and being spent—to enrich their fellowmen, giving time, trouble, care and concern, to do good to others—and not just their own friends—in whatever way there seems need. There are not as many who show this spirit as there should be. If God in mercy revives us, one of the things He will do will be to work more of this spirit in our hearts and lives. If we desire spiritual quickening for ourselves individually, one step we should take is to seek to cultivate this spirit. ‘Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.’ ‘Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.’ ‘I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart’ (Ps. 119:32).

J. I. Packer

Knowing God, 55-56

I really want it to snow more. We have had a fair bit already but then it warms up and we lose some. Today we set up our big Christmas tree I don't we have ever waited this long.
We had a nice morning, Chris had the day off to take our older four to a play in town, so it was just me and my younger three. They all played so nicely together, it was really refreshing. I was able to catch up with a friend on the phone for a bit while they played.

We have many homeschooling friends up here in the woods and last week we had 3 moms over with their children to go sledding. It was a very cozy afternoon, the little ones all played at our feet with blocks quietly and the big kids we didn't hear from for about 2 hours. It gave us mom some time to have tea and chat about the Lord and what was going on in our walks. It was a really encouraging time. :)